Rap Culture

[arely staircase]

One can trace the commercial history of rap back to 1979 when the Sugar Hill Gang produced the enormously successful song entitled, Rapper's Delight. The raw beginnings of contemporary rap music can be traced to the Bronx in the mid 1970s.9 Rap music was a way that urban black youth expressed themselves in a rhythmic form. Rap music, along with graffiti and breakdancing was the poetry of the street.

According to Patricia Rose, rap music continued to blossom after the release of Rapper's Delight. It was “discovered” by the music industry, the film industry, and the print media. Artists such as Run DMC, Whoodini and the Fat Boys helped what seemed like a fleeting phenomenon persist in changing popular culture.10 Krush Groove, a highly successful movie depicting the life of rap music, further elevated rap music into the mainstream. This movie earned Warner Brothers $17 million worldwide, a gold soundtrack, and most importantly, highlighted the potential of this art form.11
...
Unlike any other subculture in American history, the hip hop culture has transcended ethnic boundaries. Because of its eclectic audience, it has the greatest opportunity to build ethnic bridges and mend ethnic relations. Hip hop has taken hold and permeated significant regions of the world. The clothing, music, mannerisms, and lexicon, are unmistakably the same in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Zurich, Milan, and Tokyo. Indeed, this culture has the potential to make it cool not to commit hate crimes, not to discriminate or be homophobic or mysogynistic, and not to be racist.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~rrreese/HIPHOP.HTML

wow, back when PhDs wrote papers about it, and suburban parents were afraid.

I can remember owing the Sugar Hill Gang Rappers Delight long play 78 when I was in 8th grade. I listened to rap up through the 90s and the like of Ice Cube, NWA, etc. This article reminds me of how much attention, negative and positive, hip hop received - especially once white kids started getting into it and scaring their parents. I wonder if it will ever be that big again.

What do you think?

6 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	Rap/Hip-Hop was a fad that has come and gone.
	2 (33%)
	It will make a come back.
	1 (17%)
	It never lost its popularity.
	3 (50%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[datasuspect]

1. rap has its roots in reggae

and sound system culture.

in fact, kool herc pretty much invented hip hop in the early 70s.

[arely staircase]

18. yeah, serious reggae influnce here

[gollygee]

2. I think it's just as popular as it was

Kids still listen to it.

[arely staircase]

13. new stuff or the stuff i was digging in the 80s-90s?

I know there is still rap/hip hop, but I wonder if kids still listen to NWA

[nomorenomore08]

23. Both. I grew up in the 90's basically inundated with rap music.

Including a lot of stuff - Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, Biggie Smalls, Wu-Tang Clan - you still hear at practically every party, in the Bay Area anyway. And I admit that, at the advanced age (ha) of 28, I'm now a little out of touch with today's stuff - most of the new hip-hop I listen to is by middle-aged, fairly obscure dudes like Ill Bill and Sean Price.

[Posteritatis]

24. I'll hear 'older' stuff now and then around here

Not to mention a lot of newer stuff, or hip hop fused into various other genres and vice versa. It's very very much a living genre.

[Fumesucker]

3. Jazz and Blues both started in the black community and are now embraced by other ethnicities

So I think the premise of the article is faulty.

[Animal Chin]

6. As did Rock & Roll...n/t

[RiffRandell]

4. I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast but

Last edited Fri Mar 22, 2013, 06:25 PM - Edit history (1)

we're like hot butter on a breakfast toast. I loved the Sugar Hill gang---I was about the same age. Then Run DMC, Young MC and still like rap--not all, but a lot.

I'm partial to a certain music genre, but my taste is pretty versatile.

I think it's huge--Jay-Z, Eminem, Mos Def, Lil' Wayne.

I think when the "satanic panic" hit in the late eighties that scared parents more, but music/lyrics really don't faze me---if I like a song I'll listen to it.

I do remember when 2 Live Crew created a huge controversy with that song and video--that was also around the time the NEA was getting hammered over the Mapplethorpe art---I have one of his pictures hanging in my family room--a flower one.

[arely staircase]

14. yeah, i think parallels between devil music metal panic an rap's (my grandmother flipped when

I came to visit wearing a Kiss Hotter than Hell T-shirt when I was 12) Turns out the very past Sunday, her Baptist Church had a visiting preacher there to talk specifically about KISS - Kids In Statan's Service, or so the congregation was told.

[Skittles]

33. my grandma demanded to know.....

what "I am the eggman, I am the walrus" meant

[brush]

5. You left out a part of the origin of Rap

Black American and PUERTO RICAN AMERICAN youth developed rap. C'mon, who do you think lives in the Bronx? It came side by side from both cultures.

[Solly Mack]

7. Hip Hop is still going large.

I see no evidence of its decline as a genre. Sales may have declined but the sound is ever evolving and still going strong.

[arely staircase]

41. yeah, posters on this thread have turned me on to some pretty cool stuff. eom

[DanTex]

8. History of rap...

http://vimeo.com/40348580

It seems to me that rap/hip-hop culture is still going strong.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. I'm tiled of hearing about rap culture.

Really, people underestimate the importance of set, setting, and dosage.

[arely staircase]

15. please explain

the music, the general culture behind it? the lyrics, what?

[Warren DeMontague]

17. You're asking the wrong guy.

Closest I ever got to Rap was Grandmaster Flash, Blondie, or Mickey Hart's rendition of Fire on the Mountain.

[arely staircase]

19. you mean this blondie?

[Warren DeMontague]

21. YES.

Still holds up.

[arely staircase]

22. just as well as it did at

7th grade prom!

[LWolf]

10. Interesting article.

It's a good read, but is somehow silent on the REASON so many are "leery of rap music and its rebellious message." It's not the rebelliousness, at least, not for all. It's the hate in the message. It's the violence and misogyny. That's not ALL rap, but it's way too prevalent.

The silence about the content of the prevalent messages undermines the credibility of the article.

Rhythm, rhyme, self-expression, rebellion...those are great. Messages glorifying violence and hate? Not so much.

[Myrina]

11. Agreed - and it has changed .... for the worse.

I used to follow ... GrandMaster Flash, Kool Moe Dee, Slick Rick, Eric B & Rakim ... and alot of those tunes were fun. Some of the lyrics, yes, reflected the grim life in the inner city, but I'd say the majority were about romancin', getting paid & ready for the weekend, running b-ball with your crew, and bragging about how cool you were ... as opposed to what we have now with bitches and ho's, prison, guns, money and drugs.

Does the change reflect a closer look at society, or did the record companies use those artists to push that lifestyle onto the listeners (the majority of whom were inner city tweens)? Or some of both?

That, I don't know, but I do know I don't choose to listen anymore.

[arely staircase]

20. well I loved Public Enemy

But that message was overtaken by gangsta - much of the early stuff I like. But yeah it seemed to devolve into glorifying the accumulation of material things instead of social change, and got much more misogynistic.

[Jamaal510]

12. Rap hasn't lost any steam since it first began.

The only thing is that the (mainstream) music is of lower quality today, compared to the 90s and before then. I'm only 22, but I listen to a bunch of old school rap and R&B. The songs back then overall sounded more lyrically-involved in my opinion. The R&B songs kept it classy, while the rap songs had stories behind them. With most of today's mainstream songs, it is all about hitting clubs, banging women, buying new Air Force 1's and J's (Jordans), throwing some 20+ inch rims on your ride, etc. In order to find something decent, a person would usually have to look for underground artists. In fact, I think rap has gotten so bad nowadays that I have actually branched out and am listening to other genres as well, such as metal, jazz, blues, and dance music. Until sales drop, I don't expect much to change in the rap industry in regards to the caliber of lyricism.

[arely staircase]

16. what underground artists do you recommend

as per contemporary rap?

[Jamaal510]

25. Some artists I like are

Last edited Thu Mar 21, 2013, 10:43 PM - Edit history (1)

CunninLynguists, Dre Dog, Jae Millz, Tech N9ne, Ya Boy, C-Bo, Zion I, and Messy Marv. I had to either look on YouTube to find them, or hear about them from my friends.

[arely staircase]

27. cool, i'll check them out.

thanks

[nomorenomore08]

36. A lot of significant Bay Area names in that list.

I couldn't even count the number of times I've gotten high to Dre Dog. "Killa Whale" was always a favorite.

[Jamaal510]

40. I found most of my Bay Area music on Townbizz23's YouTube channel.

His channel specializes in Bay rap.

[OriginalGeek]

51. Thanks for the new things to check out

I've heard of only 2 of those and I'm always looking for more so thanks!

[nomorenomore08]

54. Ever heard of Sean Price? He's probably my favorite rapper right now.

He was known as Ruck back when he was one half of Heltah Skeltah, but at some point he changed his name to "What my moms calls me" or something to that effect (i.e. Sean Price is his actual birth name). His latest 'Mic Tyson' is pretty awesome.

[OriginalGeek]

57. I'll look him up

the name sounds familiar but that could be just because it starts with "sean"...

[Number23]

31. Good post. Nice to hear that I'm not alone in thinking hip hop nowadays really, really sucks

I don't even know half of the artists that are out right now. I'm still banging Public Enemy, NWA, DOC, Wu-Tang. Hell, I'd listen to Kid n' Play or old school MC Hammer any day of the week over alot of this garbage that's out now.

Good to know it's not just because I'm an old lady if even a 22-year old thinks alot of this stuff is bad now too. Common for older people not to like the music that the young'uns listen to.

[arely staircase]

49. my three favorite rap songs (and i date myself here)

these are about murder and a little prison rape (I am against those things btw) but they are brilliant.

and then there is:

[ZombieHorde]

26. The first 1:20 is a military marching song, but the rest is the actual piece.

Here's to you, Black Soldier,
fighting in Vietnam.
Helping your oppressor
oppress another man.
Here's to you, who volunteered,
your precious lives to give,
while we here in the ghetto
are struggling to live.
Here's to you, who, gun in hand,
another's land dethrone,
while national guardsmen terrorize
the ones you've left at home.
We hope and pray that you'll be spared
when casualties are high.
We demonstrate for your return,
and we mourn you when you die.
We've watched you grow up
from a child;
We know your strength and might.
It is no news for us to hear
how gallantly you fight.
It is a sin for you to be
upon some foreign shores,
when you are needed right here, at home,
protecting what is yours.
To know the use of weaponry,
I must admit that's good;
there is an occupation force,
in our neighborhood.
They call themselves "peace officers"
and "law enforcement groups."
But, from the acts that they commit,
we know that they are troops.
The government is cracking down,
with their oppressive hand.
They have the dream of stamping out,
resistance in the land.
But, our determination grows
and widens with the days.
We'll fight them from the rooftops,
and from the alleyways.
We'll fall upon them in the night,
and put them to the blade.
We'll free the prisoners from their jails,
in calculated rage.
Just one desire burns in our hearts,
our bonds and chains to bust.
We only wish that, with your skills,
that you were here with us.
Here's to you Black soldier,
in some far-off, distant land,
sometimes the question does arise,
on which side do you stand?
They called it a riot in Newark,
when the people arose as one.
In Detroit and Boston, in Cleveland and Watts,
they fought back
with firebombs and guns.
"What's the matter with these Niggers?" they said,
"they seem to be going wild."
"All of this fuss over one incident:
a policeman killing a child!"
"And why are they burning and looting the stores?"
"The merchant has been their friend."
"Well, maybe he cheated for a few cents,
every now and then."
"And what about the tenements
they're burning down in the slums?"
Some dog they call a slumlord,
is losing his income.
What a scare they received
when the brother said, "No!
Let's not burn the ghetto down!"
"We'll break up in groups,
and firebomb and loot
on the opposite side of town."
So then they called in their army
machine guns and tanks,
and ordered them to attack.
The people arose together as one,
and used what they had to fight back.
And now that it's happened,
the questions arise,
why the fury and fuss?
If they look over their past
and examine their deeds,
they'll know what's the matter with us.
When will the promises
be fulfilled,
that they made to us over the years?
Where's the pay
that we have not received
for our blood and sweat and tears?
Where's the employment
that we need? The decent salaries?
Welfare payments will not do,
to feed a family.
They say that conditions
are this way
because we don't have skills.
But, instead, they offer us
extermination pills.
So, we sound a warning;
they better change their tune.
They don't have long to make things right,
they better do something soon.
Their law enforcement
will not work.
Whatever they conspire
will only serve to make us strong,
we will fight fire with fire.
No, that was not a riot,
they saw down in the slums,
that was a dress rehearsal
for things that's yet to come.

[arely staircase]

28. wow, thanks for turning me on to that

that is bad ass.

[ZombieHorde]

29. Last Poets didn't hold back. nt

[arely staircase]

42. i am now a fan eom

[Recursion]

30. I used to get upset in grad school when undergrads would call Tribe "Old School"

I started the lecture, and then stopped, because for them, it is.

Hip hop will be alive for a long, long time, thank God.

[longship]

32. I will embrace Rap Culture when Opera stars start getting blown away on the streets.

Sorry. I do not get a culture that glorifies misogyny, so-called gangster culture, violence, and whose greatest artisans have been cut down "on the street" that their culture apparently worships.

I despise Rap, Hip-hop, or whatever culture calls it.

If you want the same culture with music, try Puccini's Tosca. At least it isn't merely yelling, and there is a social-political message. The characters actually sing.

Plus, it has advantages of operas in that it is three short acts and everybody knows when it's over because when the last main character dies, you know it's over. (BTW, the last one is the title character, Tosca, who pitches herself off a parapet of Castle St. Angeles in Rome -- AKA Hadrian's Tomb). As she screams as she falls, the final chords echo through the hall.

And you think Rap is good!?

The difference is that Tosca is a morality play and Rap just glorifies misogyny and gangster culture.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

55. I agree with you completely, sir or ma'am.

My handle many years ago was Opera Nut.

I love classical music and opera and old (1960s-70s) rock. And some jazz.

I can't understand why people listen to stuff with no structure, no chords, no PITCH even, just glorification of violence and "bitches 'n' hoes", and people act like they are geniuses. It's not original. It's stolen from bits of other peoples' stuff as "samples".

I gave up on rock 'n' roll after the Police broke up in 1983 after the Synchronicity tour.

The rappers, hiphop, etal are not musical geniuses. They're unimaginative, uneducated thugs.

There aren't any Franz Schuberts coming down the pike in pop music.

[smirkymonkey]

56. Same here.

I despise rap/hip hop. It simply does not resonate with me. I can barely call it music.

Like you, i prefer opera, classical, classic jazz & rock and a few modern bands that can actually play something that can be identified as music.

[immoderate]

34. Rap presents a musical idiom you can grow out of...

Sort of like Inna Gadda Da Vida or American Eagle Tragedy.

--imm

[MrSlayer]

35. Real Rap is mostly gone.

Died in the 90's when they traded social commentary for bling and bitches.

There are a few good ones out there doing it now though. This kid Hopsin is pretty old school and makes a lot of good points.

&list=FLlaMSdk9bT6P08mn7Md5Ngg&index=39


Then, of course, there is Thomas the Tank Engine and Biggie Smalls.

&list=FLlaMSdk9bT6P08mn7Md5Ngg&index=17

That's improvement and funny as hell.

[arely staircase]

43. +1 nt

[rollin74]

37. I used to listen to quite a bit of rap

I found myself getting turned off by the increasing amount of misogyny, talk of shooting people and idiots bragging about their cars, diamonds, etc.

I'm just not interested in it now

[frogmarch]

38. I don't know, but

my 87-year-old very proper British aunt loved rap. She said that to appreciate it, one must listen carefully to the words. I've tried to appreciate it, but it's just not my thing.

[nomorenomore08]

46. That is awesome, and hilarious. Do you remember any particular favorites of hers?

nt

[frogmarch]

47. I wish I did.

She recited a couple of them for mr. froggy and me at breakfast one morning, with some very cool rap gestures. With her English accent, it was hilarious, but we didn't laugh. It was hard not to though. It made us both think of the Beaver's mom talking jive in the movie Airplane.

[flvegan]

39. Beastie Boys changed my life.

Thanks to you, Yauch.

[arely staircase]

45. hell yeah,

eom

[OriginalGeek]

52. That was my daughter's first concert

For her 14th birthday she wanted to see them and I did too so I was happy to take her.

At first we were dismayed to be so high up in the arena but at one point during the show the lights went out and then they all appeared in the section right next to us and that was pretty damn cool. They did a couple songs from there and then went back but for a time we were THAT close.

[phleshdef]

44. LOL, anyone that thinks its a "fad thats come and gone" has been living under a rock for 30 yrs.

I'm not even much of a fan of hip hop/rap. I'm pretty much a "rock or nothing" kind've guy. But this isn't even something that's subject to an opinion. Its been consistently a growing part of the music industry almost as long as I've been alive. And you can't turn on a regular radio station or MTV or even watch most popular movies or television shows without hearing hip hop music. You can't walk down the street of a reasonably well populated city or walk into a shopping mall without seeing hip hop fashion both in stores or on other shoppers. Its a huge part of American urban culture now and has been for a generation. That's not what you could ever call a "fad" with a straight face and it has never gone anywhere, that's just ludicrous and illustrates blindness to the world around you.

[arely staircase]

48. perhaps i worded my op and poll poorly

I was really talking about rap culture (specifically 90s) when, once again, white bourgeoisie parents were flipping out over their kids baggy pants and "negro" music.

[OriginalGeek]

50. I ignored rap in the 80's and 90's

too busy with metal.

Since then I've found tons of rap I like a lot and some I love. Louis Logic, MURS, Jeru the Damaja, Deltron, Black Star, Nujabes....and tons more. I am lucky in that I work in large company with a diverse culture and have had many hip-hop fans turn me onto some great stuff - and yes, they are still loving NWA and Wu-Tang and Snoop and Run DMC and all those guys.

[athenasatanjesus]

53. The favorite music of corporate culture will never go away.

It's the most formulaic of all music types,thus easy to mass produce.
It relies on borrowed beats aka a proven commodity.
It has no real quality standards,basically anything that rhymes constitutes as poetry.

Somehow despite heavy black infulence in most if not all types of American born music this is the one that gets pegged as part of black culture,so if you are black not being into it is considered selling out,and if you aren't you might feel obligated to accept it.The mainstream music industry also doesn't seem to look for black artists from any other genre outside of R&B (which nowadays is just slow hip hop)

HH also produces a consumer culture,not only does it produce people that love buying lots of crap,and chant nonsense about it being all about the bling,but it produces people who's personalities are pure salesperson,people who sound like they are trying to sell you something everytime they speak to you(they often consider themselves hustlers)

[kwassa]

58. First rapper I listened to was Bob Dylan. "Subterranean Homesick Blues", 1965.

http://en.musicplayon.com/play?v=461198

[arely staircase]

59. i think that case can be made

I have always thought of the beatle's helter skelter as a proto-punk song.